His layup opened the run, and he then found Marcus Morris for a layup and a 3-pointer for a 67-55 Houston lead. Lin assisted on the second of Harden's consecutive 3-pointers, then had a steal and layup that gave Houston a 75-55 cushion.

Lin saw some fans wearing his old jersey, but said he didn't let his mind drift back to last season during the game. He doubled his scoring average in what he called an up-and-down season so far.

"I hope this is the start of a nice run for him, because he works really hard," Rockets coach Kevin McHale said. "He's a great kid. He deserves it."

Anthony decided Monday to give his sprained left ankle a second straight game to recover. The Knicks did get good injury news when Amare Stoudemire, out all season after left knee surgery, was cleared to practice. He will work out with Erie, the Knicks' NBA Development League affiliate, when it practices at the Knicks' training facility on Tuesday.

The Rockets snapped a seven-game road losing streak, their longest since an eight-game skid in 2001-02.

A sellout crowd that included swimsuit model Kate Upton - who was on one fewer Sports Illustrated covers than Lin last February - gave the Harvard graduate a loud ovation during the introduction of starting lineups. The cheers quickly turned to jeers once the game started, particularly when he made a basket. There were boos when Chandler knocked him to the ground with a shot to the head that resulted in a flagrant foul.

"He hit me hard, but I still kept coming though," Lin said.

Chandler felt it was a clean, hard foul that didn't warrant a flagrant. He and Lin hugged after the game.

"He had a good game," Chandler said. "He had a good game the other night. He's a good player. He's going to have some nights, but I thought we could have took away a lot of his easy baskets, him and James Harden."

J.R. Smith came off the bench to make all five shots and give the Knicks a 31-29 after one. The Rockets scored the first 10 of the second quarter, opening a 39-31 lead on Lin's 3-pointer with 9:26 left in the half. Houston scored the final six of the half, turning an eight-point lead into a 56-42 cushion.

NOTES: Stoudemire is working out with the D-League team because the Knicks are not expected to do much running at practice Tuesday. They haven't held a formal practice since Dec. 4. "It seems strange but we have a stretch right now where we're playing every other day and it's hard to play a game and then think you can come in and drill these guys," Woodson said. "I like to practice, that's where I feel like you learn a lot and stay sharp in terms of your defensive rotations, but I can't run them in practice and expect them to come back and play the next day and then practice again. There's just too many games coming at us right now."